Senate Republicans not sold on value of Iowa Values Fund

Republicans in the Iowa Senate are not yet convinced the state’s new economic development fund is doing all its backers claim. Senate President Jeff Lamberti, a republican from Ankeny, this week asked state economic development officials some specific questions about the “Iowa Values Fund.”Lamberti wants to know how many jobs have been created and how many jobs have been retained because a business won an Iowa Values Fund award. Lamberti says lawmakers have never received such numbers, and Lamberti maintains “there haven’t been that many jobs created yet.” Department of Economic Development director Michael Blouin (blew’-in) offers the opposite view.Blouin says “incredible amounts of data” about the Iowa Values Fund was “hand-delivered” to lawmakers this spring. He says there have been 11-thousand jobs created by the 36 awards that’ve been made, sparking nearly one-and-half billion dollars worth of construction for new or expanding business. Blouin made his comments on Iowa Public Television.